| Author: | Alex Shakar | ISBN: | 9781569479766 |
| Publisher: | Soho Press | Publication: | August 23, 2011 |
| Imprint: | Soho Press | Language: | English |
| Author: | Alex Shakar |
| ISBN: | 9781569479766 |
| Publisher: | Soho Press |
| Publication: | August 23, 2011 |
| Imprint: | Soho Press |
| Language: | English |
This Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winning novel is a “dizzyingly smart and provocative” look at technology, spirituality, and the search for meaning (Dave Eggers).
A Washington Post Notable Book of the Year
Named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Austin Chronicle, and Kansas City Star
Twin brothers Fred and George Brounian were once co-CEOs of a New York City software company devoted to the creation of utopian virtual worlds. Now, as two wars rage and the fifth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, George is in a coma; control of the company has been wrenched away by a military contracting conglomerate; and Fred has moved back in with his parents.
Broke and alone, Fred is led by an attractive woman into a neurological study promising to give him “peak” experiences and a newfound spiritual outlook on life. But as the study progresses, reality becomes increasingly porous—and he finds himself caught up in what seems at first a cruel prank: a series of bizarre emails and texts that purport to be from his comatose brother.
Moving between the research hospitals of Manhattan, the streets of a meticulously planned Florida city, the neighborhoods of Brooklyn, and the uncanny, immersive worlds of urban disaster simulation; threading through military listserv geek-speak, Hindu cosmology, outmoded self-help books and the latest neuroscientific breakthroughs, Luminarium is a brilliant examination of the way we live now, a novel as much about the role technology and spirituality play in shaping our reality as about the undying bond between brothers, and the redemptive possibilities of love.
This Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winning novel is a “dizzyingly smart and provocative” look at technology, spirituality, and the search for meaning (Dave Eggers).
A Washington Post Notable Book of the Year
Named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Austin Chronicle, and Kansas City Star
Twin brothers Fred and George Brounian were once co-CEOs of a New York City software company devoted to the creation of utopian virtual worlds. Now, as two wars rage and the fifth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, George is in a coma; control of the company has been wrenched away by a military contracting conglomerate; and Fred has moved back in with his parents.
Broke and alone, Fred is led by an attractive woman into a neurological study promising to give him “peak” experiences and a newfound spiritual outlook on life. But as the study progresses, reality becomes increasingly porous—and he finds himself caught up in what seems at first a cruel prank: a series of bizarre emails and texts that purport to be from his comatose brother.
Moving between the research hospitals of Manhattan, the streets of a meticulously planned Florida city, the neighborhoods of Brooklyn, and the uncanny, immersive worlds of urban disaster simulation; threading through military listserv geek-speak, Hindu cosmology, outmoded self-help books and the latest neuroscientific breakthroughs, Luminarium is a brilliant examination of the way we live now, a novel as much about the role technology and spirituality play in shaping our reality as about the undying bond between brothers, and the redemptive possibilities of love.
